The Ricky And Morty Season 8 Finale Did The Unthinkable

This article contains spoilers for the "Ricky and Morty" season 8 finale.

The best thing that could have happened to "Rick and Morty" was for the online hype to die down. Rather than endless hate and arguments, the discourse around the show has become quieter and less amplified. On top of that, these past few years have seen the series survive big changes like the firing of Justin Roiland and Scott Marder coming aboard as showrunner. In spite of all that, "Rick and Morty" has continued to deliver funny, visually inventive, and otherwise great episodes, providing there is still life in the show even after a decade on the air.

Because of the comparatively muted discourse, combined with the general drop-off in media coverage of the show, "Rick and Morty" has been able to focus less on its continuity and more on simply telling hilarious and entertaining standalone stories. At the same time, it still occasionally delivers more "canon-heavy" episodes.

Case in point: Now that the tale of Rick Prime — the one responsible for the death of Rick's wife, Diane, in every dimension — is over, the show has found time to bring Diane (Kari Wahlgren) back for one last story. In the season 8 finale, Rick (Ian Cardoni) purges every memory of his late wife from his brain, believing this will finally allow him to move on. However, in doing so, he causes a sentient memory of his younger self to hijack Beth's (Sarah Chalke) brain and force her to rescue Diane. This results in an episode that does something unthinkable for this series: giving Rick a happy life ... kind of.

Upon learning that Beth is about to die suicide so as to not lose the memory of her mother living inside her, Rick comes in to save her and reassures her that the real Diane would never want her daughter to do this. Memories are skewed versions of reality anyway. But still, Rick accepts his responsibility for not being there for his kid growing up. More importantly, he has a moment of compassion, as he decides not to delete the sentient memory of Diane and younger Rick. Instead, he allows them to live in their own little reality in a floating memory machine, allowing Memory Rick and Diane to reside happily together for the rest of their days.

It's a very rare moment of empathy for Rick, as he allows for someone else, specifically another version of himself, to get the life he wishes he could have. Even just a season ago, Rick would have rather killed Memory Rick than allow someone other than him to be together with Diane again. But this Rick is different; this is a Rick who's met Zack Snyder and James Gunn. He's grown and changed over the years. Even if the "Rick and Morty" approach is to never let continuity take away from a good standalone story, the show has definitely developed and changed alongside Rick. Now, after eight seasons, it's nice to know there's at least one version of the character who's not merely a messed-up, cynical alcoholic but is instead living happily out there in space.

"Rick and Morty" is streaming on HBO Max.